So You Snagged a Seagull. What Now?
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If you fish for long enough, it’s inevitable – sooner or later, you’ll snag a seagull. What now?
This angler smiles for a quick pre-release pic after the gull has been freed from fishing line.
Once you reel a squawking, flapping, kicking gull into the boat, the most important thing is to grab a rag or towel and immediately place it over the gull’s head. As long as the bird can see it’ll try to peck you (yes it does hurt and yes, they can draw blood) and flap its wings wildly, but the moment you eliminate its ability to see, the gull will chillax. Then, you can set about untangling it.
Ninety nine times out of 100 it will be tangled around a wing, not hooked. Hooks tend to slide right over the feathers and rarely break the gull’s skin. Wing tangles, however, can be really bad at times. If the gull is being traumatized and you can’t get the line free, you may want to cut it close to the bird on the rod-side and pull it out from the other end. Usually with mono it will slide right through, though ropey braid can be tougher. You’ll find that in any case the line is commonly wrapped, not knotted, and once loosened can usually be pulled free rather easily.
Once the bird’s out of the line, you can use the towel to handle it and hold it up above deck level. Keep a grip on a corner of the towel while throwing the bird up, and it will almost always fly away without a problem.
And NO, seagulls do NOT taste like chicken!
(Editor’s note: just for the record, that was a joke – sea gulls are protected by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act and it’s against federal law to kill or intentionally harm them).
4 Comments
A seagull’s instinct is to peck at the eyes of an attacker. Always, Always put on glasses before getting the bird close to the body. If it’s close enough to cover it’s head with a towel it can strike an eye. Do not remove your glasses until the bird is released.
agree that is how to handle a seagull but in my time I have caught two pelicans, any legit suggestions on this one I took two people to free the pelicans and they were hooked.
Bird Conservation professional here on the upper Texas coast and avid fisherman. Pelicans are much more dangerous. I’ve freed many from hooked or tangled fishing line. First and foremost grab large birds with large beaks by their bill, mouth closed. This goes for pelicans, egrets, ibises, etc. ALWAYS control that beak. When alone you can grab it and pin it between your legs in a kneeling position while you work on disentangling the bird. Pin the head and beak and/or the wings if necessary between your legs with the head sticking out your back. If a partner is there to help, one person can restrain the bird by holding its wings against the sides of its body with one arm against their chest while holding the beak with the other hand. A blanket, t shirt, hoodie, etc will help with the initial GRAB of the beak. Throw it over the head, but be careful…. better to cast clear and away from the Birds. They eat the fish so not a great place for fish to be hanging tightly by anyways…
Good advice.
However, they are not always line tangled. I cast a shrimp and it arced high. A gull grabbed it and got hooked through its bill. Bringing it onboard was difficult as its wings were not impeded and it was flying hard. Oddly enough, when I finally got it aboard. It became docile and allowed me to remove the hook and the shrimp from his bill. It stayed on the gunwale and squawked loudly. Finally, I realized that it wanted his shrimp back! I gave it to him and he flew away!